If you wanted to know, we’ve decided to move into THIS resort – Barcelo Maya Grand Resort Hotel Review

Hotel: Barceló Maya Grand Resort – “Who doesn’t want to spend a magnificent vacation in a beach hotel with the best services? The Barceló Maya Beach hotel is located in front of one of the most beautiful beaches in the Mexican Caribbean, which stretches 1.2 miles along the Mayan Riviera.”

This is the first two sentences on the website about the resort and that is probably the best way to paint a picture for what you are going to expect the moment you arrive.

Arrival: We flew into Cancun and once we collected our bags and went through customs, we were greeted by the kindest gentleman who took us right to the shuttle that would bring us directly to the resort.  We started out the quick ride by looking around at the scenery but we had been traveling very early in the morning so the two of us had a wonderful nap to only wake up in paradise!

Experience:  Not only were we treated with high class service from the airport to the hotel, but the moment we got out of the shuttle and actually stepped foot onto the resort property, we felt like royalty!  The staff collected our luggage for us, brought us honeymoon drinks and walked us directly to the Premium Level Lounge where we were able to check in and book our dinner reservations for the week.  The staff then showed us to our room where our bags were waiting and the moment we walked into that room was the moment I decided I never wanted to leave.

The Room:  Granted we knew that we booked a room with a swim up pool but we didn’t know that the room was going to have a walk-in shower, king size bed, couch/lounge area, private outdoor jacuzzi with a curtain and then finally the swim up pool right next to that.  The room is the most amazing room we have ever stayed in.  It also was right across from the main pool and the day we arrived was the day the DJ was bumping some jams and we were feeling the vacation vibes right away!  Oh… did I mention that the gym was to our left and the beach was right on the other side of the main pool?

The Gym:  We were blown away again.  Walking into the gym/spa area, we felt that instantly they could open up a chain of these and we would instantly purchase a membership.  High class weight and cardio machines to free weights and more!  You would be able to do any kind of workout you wanted to in this gym.  Did we also mention that they had complimentary water bottles and the ability to purchase protein powder while at the gym?  We 100% took advantage of that!  Not only could you work out in the gym but you could run a half marathon if you wanted to by running throughout the property.  It is so spacious and beautiful you won’t even realize how far you are actually running!  There were basketball courts, soccer fields, and much more for the athlete on your trip!

The Cuisine:  Barceló Maya Grand Resort uses the phrase, “Stay in One Hotel and Enjoy 5 Hotels” which is exactly what we did.  We mentioned this earlier but when checking in, we made sure we made reservations at all of the restaurants for dinner.  We wanted to experience a different cuisine each night and we were able to do just that because with all of their properties, there are over 16 different restaurants!  (There are all over 15 different bars but who is counting that?! Lol just us apparently)

Activities:  Where do we begin here… Prior to us heading down to Riviera Maya we did all the research of locations we wanted to go to and things we wanted to explore.  Little did we know that it would be as simple as it was because Barceló had a team on site that helped plan all our excursions and schedule the days and times we would do them!

Our Favorites:

• Chichén Itzá
• Coba
• Tulum
• Cenotes – all of them… but seriously haha

We were able to see multiple Mayan cities, swim in multiple cenotes, learn about the Mayan culture, go into a Mayan village and see how the people live.  We saw how tortillas were made from start to finish and placed over a fire.  The most special part to us was that we were also able to participate in a Mayan ceremony.  While many believe the Mayan culture has disappeared, our experience not only showed us that it still exists but we were able to experience their life first hand.

Also, let’s not forget that we went to Coba and almost died… but that’s another story for another day…